Welcome to the H-Net Commons (Richard)

Welcome to H-Louisiana, now a part of the H-Net Commons. My name is Greg Richard, and I am the new editor of H-Louisiana.

The Commons is a new way to discuss and share Louisiana history and culture. There are a number of new ways to share your ideas, which make it a great improvement over the past email list service. The Commons is more than that: it’s a discussion board, a blog, and a place to share multimedia. Please look around and get comfortable with the new set up. Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

A little about me: I received a Bachelor of Art degree from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 2001, a Juris Doctor and a Bachelor of Civil Law from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center of Louisiana State University in 2004, a Master of Arts degree from UL-Lafayette in 2008, and a Doctor of Philosophy in history from the University of Mississippi in 2013. In August of 2013, I accepted the position of Associate Professor of History and Paralegal at Winona State University in Winona, Minnesota. I am also a Co-Director of the Law and Society Program, and I will become the Director of the Paralegal Program in the fall of 2014. 

My dissertation focuses on the federal judiciary reform of prison farms in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana during the 1960s and 1970s. My broader research interests include the work of federal courts during the Civil Rights Movement, prison history, and the history of incarceration in the modern era. 

I welcome you to look around the new Commons site. Become familiar with the new site, and feel free to contribute. Also, if you are interested in becoming an editor, let me know. This would not obligate you to a full time editor position. If you want to begin a particular project on H-Louisiana, you can be the editor and oversee that project until it is completed. There is a tremendous amount of flexibility with this new Commons site.

Also, please feel free to introduce yourselves, either in a standalone discussion post or as a reply to this one. I look forward to being your H-Louisiana editor. 

Best,

Greg